In the 1850 US Federal Census for Anderson County, Kentucky, 38-year-old Virginia-born farmer Richard Wheat has no land of value. He and his 34-year-old Kentucky-born wife Lucy [Jordan] Wheat have in their household their Kentucky-born children, 16-year-old Mary, 14-year-old Margaret, 12-year-old Patrick, 10-year-old Lucretia, 8-year-old Joseph, 2-year-old Zachary J, and 8-month old Ann E. Patrick is the only child who has attended school in the past year.